Former NFL player scores first in the race for mayor

Bernard Carvalho will face JoAnn Yukimura in a runoff election

LIHUE » Kauai Parks and Recreation Director Bernard Carvalho jumped up and down and hugged everyone within his large wingspan yesterday as early voting tallies came in for the Kauai mayor's race.

Carvalho, a former lineman with professional football's Miami Dolphins, won handily with nearly 40 percent of the vote and will face County Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura in the Nov. 4 general election.

County Councilman Mel Rapozo came in third, and information technician specialist Rolf Beiber III was fourth.

A special election was held because of the death in June of Mayor Bryan Baptiste. The election is for the remaining two years of Baptiste's term.

The turnout for the special election was lower, percentage-wise, than in 2006, with just over 44 percent of registered voters in the county turning out yesterday.

"It's not about me," Carvalho told his supporters at a rally at the Kauai Veterans Center. "It's all about we."

Beth Tokioka, Carvalho's campaign manager, said officials are "feeling good that the strategy (of) getting him out there is making an impact." They plan to "reach everybody one by one," and go out every day and meet as many voters as possible until the general election, she said.

Carvalho, who had not raised any money before the death of Baptiste, pulled in $132,000 in the past three months.

Baptiste's widow and his children were there when Carvalho pulled his papers to run for mayor, and his campaign has received large donations from a half-dozen county employees and department heads.

Yukimura, the former mayor, was in second place in early returns, but she was unhappily surprised with the early results.

Yukimura said: "I'm delighted that I came up" in later numbers.

"I'm trusting the voters will choose a good future for Kauai," she said.

"I bring a wealth of experience," she said when asked why she should be mayor. "I bring at vision that has been tested for 30 years ... and a commitment to this island that is unparalleled."

Rapozo said Yukimura and Carvalho's campaign had an earlier start and that he has been gaining momentum in recent weeks. So the early results, which involved absentee balloting, were as good as he could expect.

"It's been a really intense campaign period," he added, "the most intense campaign period we've ever had."

Both Rapozo and Yukimura had a little more than $60,000 each for their campaign war chests.

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